Cramer: ‘Not Too Late’ to Buy Citi

Cramer during Thursday’s Stop Trading! reiterated his buy call on Citigroup, telling viewers, “It is not to late” to get into this stock.

With the government still unloading its stake in the company and institutional investors now starting to show interest, Citi remains attractive. He recommended using the depressed share price, a result of government selling, to buy and hold the stock “for the next two years.”

Cramer thinks that once the government’s stake drops to 10%, big institutions will start to pile into Citi .

“You have to get in ahead of those institutions,” Cramer said. “That’s why you should buy it now.”

Cramer said he also likes certain high-yielding energy stocks right now, such as Total and Statoil , which yield 6.8% and 4.5%, respectively. However, he thinks Goldman Sachs is “too hard” to own because of the SEC’s fraud investigation and the constant negative attention the company is getting from the press.

Lastly, rally or not, “I continue to believe that extreme caution is needed,” Cramer said. He attributed today’s move to the mere fact that stocks were oversold but now are snapping back on good news that China remains committed to its European investments. But none of the underlying problems that had hurt stocks in the first place – namely, credit woes, Cramer said – have been solved.

So, “This is actually a chance to sell,” Cramer said, urging viewers to take profits into this strength.